u/theo-access

for the past few months, ive been questioning if two of my cats, basil (4, male) and smokey (17, female) are deaf.

we got smokey in 2009, alongside her brother. i dont think shes been deaf the whole time we’ve had her, im pretty sure she used to react to noises, especially noises like shaking a bag of treats or opening a can of wet food. im wondering if now that shes an older cat, shes lost some or all of her hearing.

its a bit harder to get her attention now unless shes looking at you, and ive noticed she hasnt reacted to some loud noise sometimes. i tried snapping my fingers right behind her ear, out of her view, with no reaction, which made me really question if she was deaf, and then when i turned on something quite noisy right behind her head, she didnt react at all. ive only started thinking about it more recently so i have investigated too much yet.

we got basil in 2022. i briefly questioned if he was deaf when we first got him, but i stopped questioning it when i thought i saw him react to the sound of a door closing. im thinking now he mightve been reacting to something other than the noise, but i didnt know that at the time.

its always been tough to get his attention by calling him. like smokey, he also doesnt react to me snapping or turning on noisy things right behind him. if i accidentally wake him up, he startles a bit, like he wasnt expecting it and lets out a cute meow and cuddles up to me. sometimes, he opens his mouth like hes meowing, but no sound comes out. (my other cat, everest, also does this sometimes, but he only started doing it after he got his teeth removed, so im guessing it’s because of that.)

hes also never come running when we fill the food bowl or pull out treats, only really showing up when he sees our other cats run over. he’s always been a weird and silly cat so i honestly thought it was just quirks, especially not running over when we pull out treats, as hes never been very interested in them.

i plan to bring them both to the vet to figure it out when i have the money

for a few years now, ive been searching for a book i remember my teacher reading to my class around 2012-2015.

the book did not have a title, at least not written on the cover. its possible that the title was put inside the book but i doubt it as i remember my teacher telling us the book had no title

i remember that the cover was this greyish blue colour, and it almost looked like there were stars on it.

the only line i remember from the book is something along the lines of ‘stars sprinkled across the night sky like salt’. im not sure exactly how it was written but i remember there being something about stars related to salt

please help me find this book!